The Field Project is progressing very well and we are now close to going for tender for the Astro Turf Pitch. It is planned to build both the astro pitch and the walking track together, as part of Phase 1 of the overall project.We hope to have contractors on site at the beginning of May and have this stage of the project completed by August.

We wish to acknowledge and thank Limerick City & County Council and the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, who have made this possible through the provision of €500,000 in Hinterland funding. We also thank IPB Insurance who have awarded us €10,000 towards completion of the walking trail through the 2016 Community Engagement Fund. And, of course, thank you to everyone who has organised and supported our ongoing fundraising events to get this massive project off the ground. Hope to see you all at ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ in April!

Keep your fingers crossed for Murroe this weekend, when the winners of the 2016 IPB Pride of Place competition are announced at the Gala Awards Ceremony in Belfast on Saturday, November 26th. Over 1000 guests, representing communities across the island of Ireland, are expected to attend the ceremony, which this year takes place in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast.

‘Pride of Place’ is an All-Ireland competition which showcases the best in community achievement on the island of Ireland. The competition is organised by Cooperation Ireland under its Local Authority Programme, which highlights their commitment to supporting community groups that undertake initiatives to improve their communities and regions. Pride of Place is unique in that it specifically recognises the involvement of the local community in all aspects of rural and urban regeneration, including enhancing social cohesion, heritage and environmental awareness.

The Pride of Place competition is open to every local authority north and south of the border to nominate groups to represent their county. This year, Murroe had the honour of being nominated by Limerick City and County Council as their entry for Population Category 3 (population under 2000). It joins 3 other Limerick entries for 2016: Broadford Development Association, Liskennet Day & Recreational Service and Limerick Youth Theatre.

Pride of Place Judges Tom and Alison Dowling visited Murroe on July 11th, where our many groups and organisations had the opportunity to showcase the remarkable work being done within the community. The judges were treated to a half hour presentation in the Fitzgerald Room of the Muintir na Tire Hall, followed by an opportunity to meet and speak to the groups at stands set up in the main hall, and in a tour of the village and Glenstal Abbey.

You can view the community survey booklets presented to the judges at these links:

Next weekend’s ‘Doc on One’ will feature Murroe’s Sinead Dineen, amongst others, explore the subject of ‘Kicking the Bucket’.

Sinead is a Limerick-based visual artist, whose most recent work has dealt with her experience of living with ovarian cancer. She is also one of the founding hosts of the Limerick Death Cafe.

Earlier this year, Sinead and Katie Verling, an artistic director and curator who herself has faced serious illness, organised a series of ‘Kicking the Bucket’ workshops, with the help of funding from the Milford Care Centre’s Compassionate Communities initiative. In these workshops, participants creatively explored and discussed issues concerning illness, death and dying, culminating in a public exhibition of their work in May 2016.

RTE’s ‘Doc on One’ follows the ‘Kicking the Bucket’ group during this process. It was produced by Ronan Kelly and will air on RTE Radio 1 on November 26th at 2pm, and will be repeated on Sunday, November 27th at 7pm.

While preparations were underway for the judges’ visit for the Pride of Place competition in June, we asked adults and children in our community if they felt proud to live here and why. We created 2 survey booklets from the responses we received – one for the children’s responses, and one for the adults’. These we gave to the judges during our presentation.

With just over 2 weeks to go before we learn the outcome of our nomination, we wanted to make these booklets available for everyone to read online. Regardless of the verdict on November 26th, we have plenty to be proud of and to celebrate in this little community.

Here are the links for the survey. Hopefully they will work! Thank you to everybody who took the time to submit a response.

Some places are still available for the mid-term break tennis camp in Glenstal Abbey, run by the Alan McCormack Tennis Academy. The camp will run from Wednesday, October 2nd, to Friday, October 4th, from 2-5pm, and is suitable for children aged 5-12 years. The cost of the camp is €65, and there’s a 10% discount for families. For more information, please contact Alan at (086) 1957038.